Oz book develops character based on local child who fell victim to violence

Jim Commentucci / The Post-StandardJames C. Wallace II, author of "The Ozian Adventures of Pickleless and Blu," chats with a visitor during a meet and greet event with Wizard of Oz-related luminaries Friday at Chittenango High School.

In the novels written by Indiana author James C. Wallace II, Aadon Blu has spent his last 50 years in the land of Oz, among the towers of the Emerald City.

The character first appeared in a chapter of “The Family of Oz,” watching over a field of pinwheels in a province of Oz called Gillikin Country, with his companion, a purple spider named Boris.

He returned with a more substantial role in Wallace’s most recent novel, “The Ozian Adventures of Pickleless and Blu,” which Wallace debuted at this past weekend’s Oz-Stravaganza, the village of Chittenango’s annual tribute to native son and author of “The Wizard of Oz,” L. Frank Baum.

Described as a young man with “short brown hair and eyes of blue,” the character plays tribute to 3-year-old Aadon Blu Olmsted, of Canastota, who was fatally injured Feb. 6, 2008, after his mother’s boyfriend slammed the child onto the floor while baby-sitting him.

Wallace and the Olmsted family connected three years ago at Oz-Stravaganza. The late toddler’s family has focused its efforts on fighting child abuse; Wallace has been working for similar justice after his own granddaughter was paralyzed in a car crash at age 5.

“They understood what we were going through,” Wallace said of the shared tragedies.

In “Family of Oz,” Wallace worked to incorporate elements of Aadon’s personality into the character named for him. His love of Spider-Man translated into the creation of a purple spider to serve as his companion. And Aadon’s charge — to oversee a field of pinwheels — was derived from the Olmsted family’s annual effort to plant blue and silver pinwheels across Madison County to raise awareness about child abuse and its prevention through Aadon’s Peace Fund.

The first chapter of Wallace’s new novel is darker, explaining how Evil took the life of Aadon Blu.

“It thought only of its own concerns and showed no remorse for its actions,” Wallace described the dark figure in his first chapter.

Aadon Blu was rescued by Princess Ozma, who heard his cry for help and brought him to Oz through a waterfall, which Wallace based on Chittenango Falls.

“She saw the agony of loss, the pain of separation and the Love which attended the dying young boy of three years,” Wallace wrote.

Throughout the novel, Wallace refers to a cleft in the iris of Aadon Blu’s right eye, which he calls, “The Mark of Ozma.”

Aadon Olmsted’s eyes had a similar feature, he said.

“Usually in fiction, accuracy takes a backseat to artistic license,” Wallace said. “But in this case, I wanted to be as accurate as possible.”

The book describes Aadon Blu as “a young man marked by tragedy and redeemed by love.”

Wallace said his own fight will hopefully lead to a statewide revision of sentencing guidelines, to ensure harsher sentences for auto crashes involving children.

“If you hurt a child, you go to jail,” said Wallace, whose granddaughter, Heavenlee Angel, was not properly restrained in a car seat at the time of her accident. “That’s all that matters.”